in an isolated region on Mexico’s
Yucatan Peninsula National Geographic
Explorer Don Slater came across a
remarkable finding inside a cave he was
studying the Maya apparently used a
platform inside the cave as an
astronomical observatory if you watch
this time lapse video from inside the
cave you’ll see the nearby pyramid the
largest of its kind in the area stands
in alignment with the sunrise on a very
special day that only occurs twice a
year the Zenith passage the top of the
pyramid is partially collapsed so the
view is not exactly as the Maya sod it
appears that when de Maya built the city
around that particular area they aligned
their largest pyramid with the cave
month so that when you stand inside of a
special platform inside of the cave mall
and look out and have this this view of
the city the view is dominated by the
pyramid and it aligns with the sunrise
on the day of the zenith passage which
is a very important day on the solar
calendar for the Maya people while
standing inside the cave which follows a
staircase descent from its entrance an
observer can see with the Maya saw the
zenith passage the time in the tropics
twice a year at noon when the Sun passes
directly overhead is believed to have
been used in maintaining the Maya
agricultural calendar due to the caves
special location at the heart of the
ancient settlement of akhil regular
access let alone on the day of the
zenith would not have been for just
anybody I would say this would be
something that would have been
particularly for a small group of elite
people the cave malta cave entrance is
not very large and it’s also located in
an area that would have been controlled
specifically by the elite people the way
that they perceived the caves on an
ideological scale is so different than
the way that we perceive them it’s
almost like a church it’s a sacred space
but I think there would have certainly
been some fear involved because the
deities that would have lived inside of
these caves according to their beliefs
wouldn’t all have been benevolent
so you would be approaching these spaces
where you could upset deities you could
upset ancestors you’re you’re putting
your life at risk by going into these
places not just because of the the
Heights and because of the tight spaces
but because of the spirits that live
inside of these caves the e keel cave
with the zenith passage observatory is
just one of a hundred caves Slater and
his team have explored and studied in
the Yucatan they have repelled and
crawled through tiny spaces going where
no outsider has ever ventured the
primary purpose of Slater’s research
partially funded by a National
Geographic wait grant is to determine if
control of the caves was a source of
power within ancient Maya communities
Slater says bringing lights into these
caves allows his team to view these
caves like no other humans had seen it
before when people would go in in the
past of course all they had was torches
and using a torch to light up a cave
certainly has its interesting aspects
with the flickering light but it’s going
to be a very dim light when we go in and
we light up a cave it just completely
and totally reveals all of the nooks and
crannies and the features inside of the
cave we get to see it in a way that
nobody else had ever seen it in the past
[Music]
[Music]
Yucatan Peninsula National Geographic
Explorer Don Slater came across a
remarkable finding inside a cave he was
studying the Maya apparently used a
platform inside the cave as an
astronomical observatory if you watch
this time lapse video from inside the
cave you’ll see the nearby pyramid the
largest of its kind in the area stands
in alignment with the sunrise on a very
special day that only occurs twice a
year the Zenith passage the top of the
pyramid is partially collapsed so the
view is not exactly as the Maya sod it
appears that when de Maya built the city
around that particular area they aligned
their largest pyramid with the cave
month so that when you stand inside of a
special platform inside of the cave mall
and look out and have this this view of
the city the view is dominated by the
pyramid and it aligns with the sunrise
on the day of the zenith passage which
is a very important day on the solar
calendar for the Maya people while
standing inside the cave which follows a
staircase descent from its entrance an
observer can see with the Maya saw the
zenith passage the time in the tropics
twice a year at noon when the Sun passes
directly overhead is believed to have
been used in maintaining the Maya
agricultural calendar due to the caves
special location at the heart of the
ancient settlement of akhil regular
access let alone on the day of the
zenith would not have been for just
anybody I would say this would be
something that would have been
particularly for a small group of elite
people the cave malta cave entrance is
not very large and it’s also located in
an area that would have been controlled
specifically by the elite people the way
that they perceived the caves on an
ideological scale is so different than
the way that we perceive them it’s
almost like a church it’s a sacred space
but I think there would have certainly
been some fear involved because the
deities that would have lived inside of
these caves according to their beliefs
wouldn’t all have been benevolent
so you would be approaching these spaces
where you could upset deities you could
upset ancestors you’re you’re putting
your life at risk by going into these
places not just because of the the
Heights and because of the tight spaces
but because of the spirits that live
inside of these caves the e keel cave
with the zenith passage observatory is
just one of a hundred caves Slater and
his team have explored and studied in
the Yucatan they have repelled and
crawled through tiny spaces going where
no outsider has ever ventured the
primary purpose of Slater’s research
partially funded by a National
Geographic wait grant is to determine if
control of the caves was a source of
power within ancient Maya communities
Slater says bringing lights into these
caves allows his team to view these
caves like no other humans had seen it
before when people would go in in the
past of course all they had was torches
and using a torch to light up a cave
certainly has its interesting aspects
with the flickering light but it’s going
to be a very dim light when we go in and
we light up a cave it just completely
and totally reveals all of the nooks and
crannies and the features inside of the
cave we get to see it in a way that
nobody else had ever seen it in the past
[Music]
[Music]
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